Children can learn all about early New England life from 1790 to 1840 in a living history museum, Old Sturbridge Village (osv.org). Kids can tour the museum with costumed historians and see nearly 60 antique buildings including a blacksmith shop, shoe shop, country store, and bank. The village has three water-powered mills and a working farm. They host special events, programs, workshops, and hands-on activities throughout the year. Children can ride a stagecoach, help farmers, see a musket firing demonstration, and see what it was like to live in an 1830s household. Old Sturbridge Village is open year-round and admission is free for children under 3.
Green Hill Park Farm is located within 482.4-acre Green Hill Park (no website; 50 Skyline Drive; Worcester; 508-799-1296) about 30 minutes from Sturbridge in Worcester, Massachusetts. Children who visit the farm will enjoy seeing all the animals including miniature horses, sheep, goats, llamas, pigs, chickens, pheasants, and ducks. Green Hill Park Farm is free of charge and is open year-round but is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. From December to March, Green Hill Park Farm is open from Mondays to Fridays.
Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary (norcrossws.org) is located about 30 minutes from Sturbridge in Monson, Massachusetts. Children who visit the approximately 6,000-acre sanctuary can walk along marked trails that are open from April through November and see gardens that represent habitats found throughout New England. Kids will learn about plants, animals, insects, and minerals of the northeast in the two natural history museums. The sanctuary also has a picnic area with picnic tables during spring. Indoor classroom programs about nature are held from Tuesday through Friday from September through June. Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary is free of charge and open daily except Sundays and legal holidays and except on Mondays during winter months.
Take the kids to the Springfield Museums (springfieldmuseums.org), which is comprised of five different museums. The museums, which include the Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, the Springfield Science Museum, the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum and the Museum of Springfield History, are located less than an hour from Sturbridge in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts. Aside from learning about history, art and science, children will especially enjoy the Museums' Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden. Kids will see bronze sculptures of some of their favorite Dr. Seuss characters including Yertle the Turtle and the Grinch. The Springfield Museums is open daily and admission for children 2 and under is free.
